frenetica's Profile
Hong Kong-style Borsch
Looking for good examples of this classic, beet-free soup in any borough--and, more generally, any recommendations at all for Hong Kong-style Western food: baked seafood spaghetti, sizzling pork chop with black pepper sauce, etc.
Pousse Cafe?
Thanks. I know what a pousse cafe is. But I'm not convinced that every bartender knows the viscosity of various liqueurs and cordials off the top of his head. I'm looking for a bar where it's on the menu.
1 Day Left in Atlanta (I'm Already Here), Need Stellar Cheap Eats
Hi, I appreciate everyone's expediency on this one. I'm in Marietta, GA and plan to spend the next day doing some serious Southern-style chowhounding. I want cheap, local food, preferring shacks, diners and dives over restaurants proper. Fried chicken livers are a favorite. Please share your recommendations, post haste, for places with good eats and a ton of atmosphere. And happy holidays!
Favorite Noodle Soup Toppings?
Thanks, Old Gal, but are you sure you were looking at the right website? I don't really have any graphics on mine, just a small line-drawing at the bottom left-hand corner of the page... http://noodlr.net
I'm actually updating the database live with appropriate suggestions, so that I can build a bigger, better generator.
Favorite Noodle Soup Toppings?
Thank you, this is really useful. Obviously there is some overlap but I've added quite a few to the database and nanami togarashi is particularly appreciated. Surprised the link was not working for you, please try again: http://noodlr.net
Favorite Noodle Soup Toppings?
My friend and I just built NOODLR.NET, a noodle soup idea generator. I would love to hear everybody's favorite noodle soup accessories--from different soup bases to aromatics, from roast meats to condiments--so I can make the database as diverse and delicious as possible. Thanks!
Sauce for artichokes
Sounds delicious. Didn't occur to me to stabilise hollandaise with sour cream. Thanks!
Sauce for artichokes
Bearnaise sauce, i.e. vinegary hollandaise with shallots and lots of tarragon. Yum!
Dinner w/ parents In Park Slope/Prospect Heights Area
I don't know Park Slope very well but I was recently at Flatbush Farm, which I don't recommend for a dinner with one's folks. It's like a cruel parody of Williamsburg, with gorgeous, way overstyled waitstaff who don't do their job terribly well. Food is not bad, but the meats and produce that they get (which are very good), they recycle all over the place, so you end up with the same ingredients popping up in starters and entrees, and it seems like they're trying to spread themselves too thin. It's more of a drunken-dinner-with-friends ambiance, I think.
Fancy mashed potatoes
Like Dmnkly said, it's called a ring mold. That is the professional name of the tool, and it's available in restaurant and pastry supply stores.
http://www.culinarycookware.com/catalog.asp?catid=3300
Easy Salmon Recipe for the oven?
Salmon is so fatty and tender that I never bother to marinate it. Honestly, the simplest thing: take some red miso and spread it all over the top of your salmon, and cover with some sliced scallions. Bake at 400 for a few minutes. It will need no additional seasoning and it's absolutely delicious.
culinary gold
Brussels sprouts + duck fat = heaven.
Last time I rendered duck fat, my boyfriend tipped it out when he was washing the dishes, because he thought it was (and I quote) "garbage".
Best dessert you have ever had where and what?
The food at Olives (Todd English's place at the W Hotel) in Union Square is good, but their pastry chef is doing work that is to-die-for. I went with a party of 7 or 8, so between us we ordered the entire dessert menu, and it was unbelievable. Something simple like warm chocolate pudding cake is made original with lashings of malted chocolate sauce. The malt is so familiar but so totally unexpected.
Steve's Key Lime Pies and Swingles
I live a few blocks from Steve's, and I have to say, I don't get it.
Baked has lemon meringue tarts that blow my mind, though.
Lunetta of Brooklyn is Crowded and Noisy like Manhattan and Almost as Expensive but has Great Food
Food there is tasty, I agree. I live nearby and have visited several times. But they have a very free hand with the oil and butter, and nearly everything comes to the table greasy, and this is including dishes that already have guanciale in them, and probably don't need that extra 2 oz of butter.
Need Me Some Chicken Fried Steak. Where is it?
Junior's in Brooklyn. It's pretty good.
Chicken,Fish, Or Perhaps Shrimp Stock?
I think with something as flavourful as jambalaya, with the andouille and shrimp and ham in there, any stock will be absolutely fine and the difference between them incredibly minimal. If you're buying, chicken stock will be the cheapest and most widely available, so why not go for that? And if you're peeling fresh shrimp, reinforce the chicken stock with the shells. Honestly, don't sweat it. It's if you're poaching something delicate that the choice of stock becomes pivotal, IMO.
The Well Recognized Critic
I wonder why everyone is so concerned with her anonymity, rather than the more (to me) immediate problem of her dubious qualifications and terrible, shocking writing.
Good chili stockist
Anyone know of a good place to buy special, non-run-of-the-mill chilis and other Mexican staples? I live in Williamsburg but anywhere in Brooklyn is good.
To win a chili cookoff
Counting on you, chowhounds, for tips that will lead me victory. Am open to all varieties but cannot use pork.
General Tso's Chicken = Orange Chicken?
I'm assuming you missed Fuchsia Dunlop's General Tso tour-de-force in the NY Times Dining this week? http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/magazine/04food.t.html?ref=dining
Help with winter's day baking project?
I will have to save this recipe for another day, as I have no jam. I love these cookies but it never occurs to me to make them.
Help with winter's day baking project?
Thanks all. I made a variation on Epicurious' Warm Pear and Walnut Cake, substituting pecans for walnuts and Brazilian cachaca for the brandy. Rockycat, I took your advice and added a bunch of nutmeg, amazing how it instantly warmed up the batter and made it smell festive, almost. It's in the oven now, will report back.
Help with winter's day baking project?
Thanks for replies so far. They both sound wonderful but as there are a number of us in my house I would prefer to use flour and stretch the recipe out a bit. I think a two-pear streusel would be just enough for me, and no-one else...
Help with winter's day baking project?
Can anyone chime in with a possible recipe with the ingredients I have in my pantry/fridge? I have a craving for something sweet and baked but am not a very experienced baker. Stores around my house are closed. This is what I have:
2 fresh pears
All-purpose flour
Baking soda
Baking powder
Vanilla
Cinnamon & nutmeg
Whole pecans
Raisins
Lemons
Milk
2 large eggs
Butter
Oil
Crisco
Peanut Butter
Icing sugar
Granulated sugar
Does anyone miraculously know a way I could satisfactorily combine these things?
ISO best Russian Restaurant (any borough)
Follow-up - I was talking with a Russian friend last night who's a chef and lives in Brighton Beach and he said the absolute best pelmeni are at Cafe Glechik. He said that aside from Glechik he thinks the Russian food in Manhattan is better. I think in the 25-and-under in the Times they did Glechik a few months age, and here's another good review: http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0037,sietsema,18103,19.html
Re: sturgeon, I've only really ever seen it smoked. I think Baryshnikov's Samovar place or the Russian Tea Room probably have fancy preparations of it but it doesn't sound like those places are what you are looking for...
Top Chef Backlash [Spoilers in Post]
Well, I don't necessarily think she turned on him for a reason. Elia was consistently childish and hysterical. How many times did she declare "I queet" whenever something didn't go her way? Why conclude that her judgment of Marcel was fair-minded?
ISO best Russian Restaurant (any borough)
I'm attaching a couple of pictures from a recent trip to the Oceanview Cafe in Brighton Beach. The food is ok but I got pissed off because it faces the street and there is no "ocean view" to be found. It's an ugly little restaurant and not good for lingering over a Valentine's meal, and the service is sullen as hell.
The soup is a myasnaya solyanka - a really sharp, acidic, tomato-tinged clear soup with all sorts of goodies in the bottom: different kinds of sausage, black olives. This is very traditional and very good. But you have to like frankfurters, as they often appear in "mixed meat solyanka".
There are some bliny pictured, too, with red caviar (trout, I think). These are not to be missed.
ISO best Russian Restaurant (any borough)
Further to my comments above -
I love Anyway Cafe in the East Village - menu is here: http://www.anywaycafe.com/main.php?page=menu
It's jazzed up with a bunch of French stuff but the old standards are there and they are well-prepared: great herring plate, pelmeni are deliciously light and have better-quality fillings than what you will get on Brighton Beach.
In the same neighbourhood: I don't really agree that there's anything special about Veselka.
I lived in Russia for quite a while so trust me :) I've never had a stellar meal in Brighton Beach. This might be considered controversial, but much as I love the country and its cooking, Russian food just isn't that good, objectively! It's hard to get blown away by piles of pelmeni and stringy shashlyk. A little bit of French influence is a good thing, in my opinion.
If you do go to Anyway they have the most wonderful homemade honey ginger vodka that you order by the carafe.
